Description

1802 with 1861-67 additions by William Burn. 2-storey with basement and attic, 7-bay, symmetrical gabled Tudor mansion house on sloping site. Wide 3-bay core of orange sandstone with later additions in pink, squared and snecked sandstone. Pale sandstone ashlar dressings. Raised cills. Banded string courses between floors. In-and-out quoins. Shouldered dormer windows breaking eaves. Ball finials to shouldered gables and dormers.

S (Principal) ELEVATION: 5 bays wide with double-height bowed and gabled bay to centre. Double return stair with round-arch at basement level (1861) rising to 2-leaf glazed and timber panelled door to centre. Recessed sections flanking with wide mullioned tripartite windows. Canted windows rising to 1st floor at gabled outer bays. Long, single-storey kitchen wing adjoining E elevation with advanced gable to centre.

N ELEVATION: 7 bays, arranged 1-1-3-1-1; pale sandstone ashlar entrance porch addition to central bay with Ionic pilastered doorpiece. Wall lining basement level with stone balustrade at ground level, flanking porch (added 1866).

Multi-pane timber sash and case windows to 3-bay central core. Predominantly 4-pane glazing to timber sash and case windows elsewhere. Grey slate. Tall, corniced ridge and end stacks in pale ashlar, clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Terraced lawn to S.

INTERIOR: square hall/vestibule to N (rear) entrance with early 19th century plasterwork ceiling decoration. Central corridor spine with 5 principal rooms leading off at ground floor. Fine hand-painted oriental wallpaper to dining room and massive roll-moulded marble fireplace. Variety of marble and timber fire places elsewhere. Internal 3-arch arcade to upper stair landing; stairs set at right angle with barley-twist timber banisters. Octagonal room to bowed centre bay at basement altered c.1861 to accomodate external double return stair to 1st floor at S elevation.

STABLE BLOCK: predominantly 1802 with additions by William Burn, 1861-7. Square-plan, classical stable block. Orange sandstone with pale ashlar dressings; in-and-out quoins. 2-storey, piend-roofed entrance section with with basket-arched pend; corniced pediment above with occulus. Banded cill course with 2 loft level windows flanking. Further basket-arch openings with 2-leaf timber doors flank entrance at courtyard elevation. Single-storey to E and W ranges. Patterned cobbled courtyard.

Statement of Interest

Part of a B-Group comprising: 'Eildon Hall Including Stable Block'; 'Eildon Hall, Garden House And Walled Garden'; 'Eildon Hall, East Lodge' and 'Eildon, Nos 1, 2 And 3 Greenwells Cottages' (see separate listings).

Built in 1802 as a Classical villa for Naval surgeon, Dr Thomas Mein and subsequently extended by eminent Scottish architect, William Burn to form a sizable Tudor mansion for the 5th Duke of Buccleuch. Eildon Hall is located 1.5 miles SE of Melrose and a mile NW of Newtown St Boswells. The orange sandstone core clearly defines the earlier Georgian phase of building from the pink sandstone additions. To the N elevation, the single-storey and basement pavilions of the original design are best evident. William Burn's gabled additions, carried out in his favoured Tudor-Cotsworld style, were designed largely to accommodate visitors and servants to give the Duke a greater presence near to the Buccleuch Hunt, then based at St Boswells. This is particularly evidenced in the long kitchen wing to the E. Burn raised the roof of the earlier house and added two floors and canted windows to the pavilions, and ball-finialled gables and dormer windows. The classical N entrance portico replaces a segmental-pedimented porch by Burns. The dining room is particularly notable for its hand painted wallpaper.

The Hall was used regularly throughout the 20th century as a base for hunting meets with the hunt kennels latterly located at nearby Greenwells to the S (see separate listing). The house later became the traditional home of the Duke's eldest sons, the Earls of Dalkeith.

The square-plan courtyard stable to the E is contemporary to the original 1802 villa and is predominantly of the same orange although with small additions by William Burn in the same style as his additions to the Hall. It is particularly notable for its basket-arched and pedimented entrance and retains its patterned cobbled courtyard. The additions by William Burn are predominantly to the S (rear) range, raising to 2-storeys with further single-story piend-roofed ancillary adjoining SE angle. The stables have been largely converted to residential accommodation.

List description updated at resurvey (2010).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Eildon Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17843068

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]